EU faces the fastest rise of temperatures amongst all the continents on earth, says UN report.
A joint report by the UN’s World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) and the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service has found that the EU region has seen an increase of 0.5 degrees Celcius, each decade since 1991.
The report also found that in 2021, climate events such as floods and storms resulted in the death of hundreds of deaths. Such events affected more than half a million people, causing economic damage exceeding $50 billion in Europe.
“Europe presents a live picture of a warming world and reminds us that even well-prepared societies are not safe from impacts of extreme weather events,” Petteri Taalas, WMO chief said in a statement.
The report suggested that as a result of rising temperatures, alpine glaciers have lost over 30 meters of thickness between 1997 and 2021, cautioning that regardless of future levels of global warming, temperatures would likely continue to rise across Europe. It also warned that the combination of climate change, urbanization and population ageing will further aggravate vulnerability to heat.
Aside from this, the UN report also discussed the success of several countries in the EU, who have worked over the years to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. Their emissions, the report suggests, decreased by nearly a third between 1990 and 2020.
Discussing the role of changing climate in increasing health concerns, the report suggests that already more than 24 per cent of adults living in the European region suffer from allergies, including severe asthma, out of which, the proportion among children is 30 to 40 per cent.
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